Trump Tells Iran That He Wants A Deal Over The Strait Immediately: President Trump is calling for Iran to reach a deal with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz as soon as Tuesday, or face more ‘decapitation’ air strikes.
“I want to give them every last chance before decapitation,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “You’ll find out today or tomorrow. I mean, they’re going to go quickly, one way or the other. It’s not very complex.”
President Donald J. Trump greets Ambassadors David Perdue and Xie Feng, Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi at Beijing Capital International Airport, China on Friday, May 15, 2025, before boarding Air Force One en route Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at a Military Mothers’ Day event, Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in the East Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)
The president is now once again telling Iran that this is “the last chance” to make a deal. The US was, as the president said last week ahead of time, that it was preparing for the largest air strikes since World War II, and then promptly called it off when the prospect of a peace deal was thought to be near.
“But in this case, leakers helped because they said the severity of the attack, and Iran knew it. They knew what was coming. It was going to come last night, and it would have gone on for a long time, and there’d be essentially very little left. There’d be nothing left, and if I’m given a chance to let a lot of people live, I want to give that chance. So I’m under no time constraint,” he said.
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman called the president and asked him to call it off. Now the president is putting the air campaign publicly back on the table.
Iran Shows No Sign Of Budging On Its Strait of Hormuz Stance
Iran continues to insist it has the right to manage maritime traffic, charge tolls for safe passage, and attack vessels that try to sail through the chokepoint without seeking its permission.
Yesterday it fired on two ships in the Strait, because they were sailing along the southern (Omani) route. It was reported that one sailor was missing after it was struck by an unknown projectile, thought to be a drone.
Iran has been clear that it demands total control over the Strait and has been making demands over the routes and future management of the strait, including the charging of fees in return for providing ships with maritime services.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said Iran was demanding that ships entering the strait take the northern route close to Iran. Iran rejected dividing traffic evenly between the two routes and also rejected that a third country could start de-mining the Strait.
Strikes, Threats, And Then Backing Off, The Cycle Continues
The president has been threatening massive air strikes on Iran since early March, and then again on April 7, when he threatened “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” unless Tehran reopened the Strait.
Then he called it off and agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the Pakistanis. Iran used the ceasefire to rebuild some of its shattered defenses, import fresh weapons, and rebuild some of its weapons-making industry.
More threats in May were “put off for a little while, hopefully maybe forever, but possibly for a little while, because we’ve had very big discussions with Iran”.
This now familiar pattern followed in June, when the US ceased air strikes when the two sides signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which Iran quickly broke when it began attacking ships traveling on the Oman side of the Strait.
Another “massive attack” publicly planned was canceled after the president said, “They want to meet, and we’re meeting, on Air Force One. “We’ll see what happens.”
On Monday, the president stated that Iran was “desperate” for a deal and warned Tehran it had “one last chance” before “decapitation” to make an agreement.
The Iranians deny that they are even holding talks with the US, saying that they are only speaking with Oman about the management of the Strait of Hormuz.
Qatar Says There Are “No Direct Talks” Ongoing
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said during a press conference on Tuesday in Doha that “efforts are still ongoing with all the parties” to end the war between the U.S. and Iran.
“We are looking towards a diplomatic resolution as we are speaking right now. As you know, there are current efforts on the ground that are in very progressive stages, and we are working with all the parties,” Ansari said.
Ansari added that there is no agreement in place, but said, “Things may change in the coming hours or days; we don’t know.”
“Right now, we don’t have anything on the books when it comes to direct talks,” Ansari said.
“We are hopeful that if we can get a resumption of the talks anytime soon, we’d be able to push forward towards a major deal that would help us walk back into a situation of peace in our region.”
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
